South Korea

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'Intense Poetic Prose' Just Won Her the Literature Nobel

South Korean author Han Kang takes home top writing prize

(Newser) - The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded Thursday to South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel Committee called "her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." Han, 53, won the International Booker Prize in 2016 for The Vegetarian, an...

This Nation Is 'Most Targeted' Over Deepfake Porn

In South Korea, women's lives have been ruined by footage; gender divide there may deepen

(Newser) - Three years after a 30-year-old South Korean woman received a barrage of online fake images that depicted her nude, she's still being treated for trauma. She struggles to talk with men, and using a mobile phone brings back the nightmare. "It completely trampled me, even though it wasn'...

Kim Jong Un: I Won't Hesitate to Destroy South Korea With Nukes

Threat comes as animosities between the Koreas are at worst point in years

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons and destroy South Korea permanently if provoked, state media reported Friday, after the South's leader warned that Kim's regime would collapse if he attempted to use nuclear arms. The exchange of such rhetoric between the rival Koreas...

Cops: North Korea Defector Steals Bus to Drive Home

He didn't make it very far, could now face a decade in jail, per South Korea police

(Newser) - A man who fled from North Korea a decade ago made a rare attempt to return this week on a stolen bus, according to South Korean police. The unnamed man in his 30s allegedly stole the bus from a garage in Paju, about 20 miles northwest of Seoul, around 1am...

Octogenarian Nearly Became the Oldest Miss Universe Contestant

Choi Soon-hwa made it to finals of Miss Universe Korea pageant, but won't advance

(Newser) - Choi Soon-hwa may not have won Miss Universe Korea, but her appearance at Monday's pageant proved, as CNN put it, that "age is just a number." Choi, variously reported as 80 or 81, had hopes of becoming the oldest woman ever to compete in the Miss Universe...

Trash Balloons Caused 413 Minutes of Airport Shutdowns

South Korea releases numbers

(Newser) - So far, the trash balloons released by North Korea have proved more of a headache than a hazard for the South. But aviation data shows just what a headache they've become. Reuters cites a South Korean lawmaker who said Wednesday that runways at the country's Incheon and Gimpo...

Suitcase With Woman's Body Stayed Hidden for 16 Years

Maintenance worker make gruesome find in South Korea building; cops suspect old boyfriend

(Newser) - The body of a woman who disappeared in South Korea some 16 years ago was discovered by chance last month during maintenance work on an apartment building, leading authorities to her alleged killer. The man in his 50s, identified as Mr. A, told police he'd been living with his...

West Accused of Turning S. Korea Into Adoption Mill
West Accused
of Turning
S. Korea Into
Adoption Mill
investigation

West Accused of Turning S. Korea Into Adoption Mill

The AP investigates the decades-long practice that brought babies to the US, elsewhere

(Newser) - Western governments eagerly approved and even pushed for the adoption of South Korean children for decades, despite evidence that adoption agencies were aggressively competing for kids, pressuring mothers, and bribing hospitals, an investigation led by the Associated Press has found. Now adults, many of those children have since discovered that...

In South Korea, a Retail Stat With Big Implications

Dog strollers are outselling baby strollers for the first time, notes the Wall Street Journal

(Newser) - Some retail stats are humdrum, and others speak volumes. The Wall Street Journal calls attention to one in the latter category out of South Korea: Dog strollers are outselling baby strollers. The trend started last year for the first time and has continued through the first six months of this...

Table Tennis Selfie May Haunt North Korean Players
Table Tennis Selfie May Haunt
North Korean Players
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Table Tennis Selfie May Haunt North Korean Players

Silver medalists reportedly in hot water over photo with South Korean rivals at Olympics

(Newser) - At the time, it was hailed by NPR as an example of "selfie diplomacy" and later chosen by People as one of the best sportsmanship moments from the Olympics. But a selfie featuring two North Korean table tennis players may have landed both in hot water back home, reports...

Sinkhole Swallows SUV on City Street

Occupants were rescued from Seoul sinkhole

(Newser) - Two people were hospitalized in South Korea's capital Thursday after the road ate their vehicle. Their white Tivoli SUV rolled over into a sinkhole that suddenly appeared on a street in Seoul's Seodaemun district, the Korea Herald reports. The 82-year-old male driver and his passenger, a 76-year-old woman,...

North Korean Soldier Pulls Off Risky Defection

Numbers of those attempting to escape the regime of Kim Jong Un appears to be increasing

(Newser) - A soldier from North Korea managed to defect to South Korea on Tuesday by making a risky trek across the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two countries, reports Reuters . The soldier is believed to be a staff sergeant in his 20s, and the Wall Street Journal reports that South Korean...

Parking Garage Fire Illustrates a Growing Problem

Safety codes don't appear to be keeping up with dangers of electric vehicles

(Newser) - An intense car fire in an underground garage last week in South Korea speaks to a problem not just in that nation but worldwide for the burgeoning electric vehicle industry. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the fire began with a Mercedez-Benz EV, one that wasn't even charging at...

North Korea Wants Medicines to Treat Kim, Seoul Says

Spy agency suspects ruler is dealing with high blood pressure and diabetes

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has regained weight and appears to have obesity-related health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and his officials are looking for new medicines abroad to treat them, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers on Monday. The 40-year-old Kim, known for heavy...

This Isn't a Mistake on Korea You Want to Make at Olympics

Games organizers apologize after introducing South Korean team as North Korea's competitors

(Newser) - Olympic Games organizers said they "deeply apologize" for introducing South Korea's athletes as North Korea during the opening ceremony in Paris. As the South Korean athletes waved their nation's flag on a boat floating down the Seine on Friday evening, they were announced in both French and...

Latest Batch of North Korean Trash Hits a Prime Target

Because this time around, trash from one fell on South Korea's presidential compound

(Newser) - Trash from at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound Wednesday, raising worries about the security of key South Korean facilities from North Korean provocations. The rubbish that fell on the ground at the compound in central Seoul contained no dangerous material and no one...

South Korea Points Loudspeakers Across Border

In the past, propaganda broadcasts have brought fire from North Korea

(Newser) - South Korea said Friday it has restarted anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts across the border in response to North Korea's resumption of trash-carrying balloon launches. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that its frontline loudspeaker broadcasts were conducted between Thursday evening and Friday morning in areas...

US: She Left the CIA, Acted as an Agent for South Korea

Sue Mi Terry is charged with failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act

(Newser) - The US alleges a former CIA analyst worked as an agent for South Korea in exchange for luxury goods and experiences—Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton handbags, a Dolce & Gabbana coat, and dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants. Reuters reports on an indictment made public Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that...

North Korea Suffers Another High-Level Defection: Seoul

Diplomat Ri Il Kyu, stationed in Cuba, fled to South Korea

(Newser) - South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday that a senior North Korea diplomat based in Cuba has fled to South Korea, the latest defection by a member of the North's elite, reports the AP . The National Intelligence Service confirmed the defection of a North Korean counselor of political affairs...

Politician Takes Heat for His Reasoning on Male Suicides

Kim Ki-duck, council member in Seoul, South Korea, partly blames 'female-dominated society'

(Newser) - Men are taking their own lives in increasing numbers in South Korea, which has one of the highest suicide rates among the world's richest nations. One local politician thinks he's got the spike partly figured out—and he's blaming women. In a new report cited by the...

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